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The 2016 Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts was a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stock car race held on July 9, 2016, at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky. Contested over 267 laps on the 1.5-mile (2.4 km) speedway, it was the 18th race of the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
| Race details[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Race 18 of 36 in the 2016 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series | |||
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| Date | July 9, 2016 | ||
| Location | Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Kentucky | ||
| Course |
Permanent racing facility 1.5 mi (2.4 km) | ||
| Distance | 267 laps, 400.5 mi (640.8 km) | ||
| Average speed | 128.580 mph (206.929 km/h) | ||
| Pole position | |||
| Driver | Stewart-Haas Racing | ||
| Time | No time trials; set by owners' points | ||
| Most laps led | |||
| Driver | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | |
| Laps | 128 | ||
| Winner | |||
| No. 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | |
| Television in the United States | |||
| Network | NBCSN | ||
| Announcers | Rick Allen, Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte | ||
| Nielsen Ratings |
1.8/3 (Overnight)[11] 1.9/3 (Final)[12] 3.2 million viewers[12] | ||
| Radio in the United States | |||
| Radio | PRN | ||
| Booth Announcers | Doug Rice, Mark Garrow and Wendy Venturini | ||
| Turn Announcers | Rob Albright (1 & 2) and Pat Patterson (3 & 4) | ||
The race had 16 lead changes among 9 different drivers and eleven cautions for 53 laps.
The sixth running of the Quaker State 400 was held in Sparta, Kentucky at Kentucky Speedway on July 9, 2016. The track is a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) tri-oval speedway owned by Speedway Motorsports, Inc. Kentucky Speedway, which has also hosted the ARCA Racing Series, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, and the Indy Racing League, has a grandstand seating capacity of 107,000.
During Coca-Cola 600 race weekend, NASCAR announced they would test changes to the aero package at Michigan and Kentucky.[13] In addition to the aero changes used in the 2016 NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race, there will be a reduction in spoiler size from 3.5 inches (8.9 cm) to 2.5 inches (6.4 cm), a two-inch (5.1 cm) reduction of the splitter and resizing the deck fin.[14]
NASCAR Executive Vice-President and Chief Racing Development Officer Steve O'Donnell said that NASCAR looks "at it as a never-ending journey; if we can improve we're going to do that. We wanted to go the direction of low downforce, see how that worked, not kind of go all the way in and hope that we are directionally right. And we are seeing that play out. We've seen some great racing at the beginning of the year. But we also knew that we had some more levers that we could pull if the direction kind of proved out, so we've tried some of those things. We've tested it and what we've also wanted to do is lower some of the corner speeds to allow for even more passing. That was one of the areas where we've seen minimal change, but there are some levers we can pull to really drive that down."[14]
The track was completely repaved during the first half of the Sprint Cup Series season, turns 1 and 2 were narrowed from 76 ft (23 m) to 56 ft (17 m) and the banking was raised from 14 to 17 degrees.[15]
The preliminary entry list for the race included forty cars and was released on July 1, 2016, at 3:17 pm ET.
Carl Edwards was the fastest in the first practice session with a time of 28.962 and a speed of 186.451 mph (300.064 km/h).[16]
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Time | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19 | Carl Edwards | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 28.962 | 186.451 |
| 2 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 29.004 | 186.181 |
| 3 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row Racing | Toyota | 29.155 | 185.217 |
| Official first practice results | ||||||
Denny Hamlin was the fastest in the second practice session with a time of 28.680 and a speed of 188.285 mph (303.015 km/h).[17] Jimmie Johnson went to his backup car after slamming the wall exiting turn 4 early in the session.[18]
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Time | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 28.680 | 188.285 |
| 2 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 28.705 | 188.121 |
| 3 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 28.710 | 188.088 |
| Official second practice results | ||||||
Kevin Harvick was awarded the pole position after qualifying was rained out.[19]
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet |
| 2 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford |
| 3 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet |
| 4 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford |
| 5 | 19 | Carl Edwards | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 6 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 7 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row Racing | Toyota |
| 8 | 24 | Chase Elliott (R) | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 9 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 10 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 11 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota |
| 12 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
| 13 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 14 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
| 15 | 21 | Ryan Blaney (R) | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford |
| 16 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet |
| 17 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford |
| 18 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 19 | 47 | A. J. Allmendinger | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet |
| 20 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet |
| 21 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford |
| 22 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet |
| 23 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford |
| 24 | 27 | Paul Menard | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet |
| 25 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 26 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford |
| 27 | 10 | Danica Patrick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet |
| 28 | 13 | Casey Mears | Germain Racing | Chevrolet |
| 29 | 38 | Landon Cassill | Front Row Motorsports | Ford |
| 30 | 95 | Ty Dillon (i) | Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing | Chevrolet |
| 31 | 23 | David Ragan | BK Racing | Toyota |
| 32 | 44 | Brian Scott (R) | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford |
| 33 | 7 | Regan Smith | Tommy Baldwin Racing | Chevrolet |
| 34 | 34 | Chris Buescher (R) | Front Row Motorsports | Ford |
| 35 | 83 | Matt DiBenedetto | BK Racing | Toyota |
| 36 | 98 | Cole Whitt | Premium Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 37 | 46 | Michael Annett | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 38 | 32 | Jeffrey Earnhardt (R) | Go FAS Racing | Ford |
| 39 | 55 | Reed Sorenson | Premium Motorsports | Chevrolet |
| 40 | 30 | Josh Wise | The Motorsports Group | Chevrolet |
| Official starting lineup | ||||
Carl Edwards was the fastest in third practice with a time of 28.627 and a speed of 188.633 mph (303.575 km/h).[20]
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Time | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19 | Carl Edwards | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 28.627 | 188.633 |
| 2 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row Racing | Toyota | 28.758 | 187.774 |
| 3 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 28.802 | 187.487 |
| Official third practice results | ||||||
Carl Edwards was the fastest in the final practice session with a time of 28.808 and a speed of 187.448 mph (301.668 km/h).[21] Kurt Busch dropped to the rear of the field after switching to his backup car because of a wreck in the closing minutes of final practice.[22]
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Time | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19 | Carl Edwards | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 28.808 | 187.448 |
| 2 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row Racing | Toyota | 28.950 | 186.528 |
| 3 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 28.972 | 186.387 |
| Official final practice results | ||||||
Under clear evening Kentucky skies, Kevin Harvick led the field to the green flag at 7:50. After making contact with the wall in turn 4 the prior lap, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. cut a tire, slammed the wall and brought out the first caution of the race on lap 11.[23] He went on to finish 40th.[24]
The race restarted on lap 15. A scheduled competition caution brought out the second caution of the race on lap 26. Kurt Busch opted not to pit and assumed the lead.
The race restarted on lap 32. The third caution of the race flew the same lap for a single-car wreck on the frontstretch. Exiting turn 4, Jimmie Johnson made contact with Ryan Blaney and sent himself spinning into the wall.[25]
The race restarted on lap 37. Harvick passed his teammate exiting turn 2 to retake the lead on lap 38. The fourth caution of the race flew on lap 54 after Joey Logano suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall in turn 3. He said afterwards that he "got loose off of four and knocked the right-rear quarter off it and then got real loose. When you get loose you have to slow down more and you use a lot of brake to slow down. Usually, the next thing to go is the right-front tire and that happened. Unfortunately, I put us in a bad spot here. It's not where we want to be and we'll figure out next week." Brad Keselowski opted not to pit and assumed the lead.[26]
The race restarted on lap 60. Martin Truex Jr. out-raced Keselowski to the line to take the lead on lap 63. The fifth caution of the race flew on lap 80 for Matt DiBenedetto after his car slammed the wall in turn 3. David Ragan opted not to pit and assumed the lead. He eventually pitted and handed the lead back to Harvick.
The race restarted on lap 88 and a two-car wreck in turn 3 involving Blaney and Chase Elliott brought out the sixth caution of the race.[27] Blaney said that the "restart was pretty hectic from the beginning with the 78 getting loose and it kind of put everybody in a bad spot, and it wound up with us being in the middle of three-wide into three. It's so hard to get into that corner all night with a car close to behind you and outside of you, and no one lifting either, and it's just an unfortunate spot we got put in and I hate to see two really good cars tore up. We were both very fast tonight (24 and 21) and it's just a really unfortunate deal, but we'll try to get it fixed and get back out there and make some laps."[28]
The race restarted on lap 92. A multi-car wreck on the backstretch brought out the seventh caution of the race on lap 94. Exiting turn 2, Brian Scott got loose, saved the car, got turned by Kyle Larson and got t-boned by Chris Buescher. A. J. Allmendinger, Buescher, Ty Dillon, Larson, Danica Patrick, Regan Smith, Scott and Cole Whitt were all collected in the melee.[29]
The race restarted on lap 103. A number of cars began hitting pit road on lap 142. Harvick hit pit road on lap 147 and handed the lead to Austin Dillon. He pitted the next lap and handed the lead to Matt Kenseth. He pitted the next lap and handed the lead to Danica Patrick. She pitted the next lap and the lead cycled to Truex just as the eighth caution of the race flew for Regan Smith who suffered a right-front tire blowout and slammed the wall in turn 3.
The race restarted with 110 laps to go. The ninth caution of the race flew with 108 laps to go for a single-car spin in turn 3 involving Clint Bowyer.
The race restarted with 102 laps to go. The 10th caution of the race flew with 96 laps to go for a single-car wreck on the frontstretch involving A. J. Allmendinger.
The race restarted with 91 laps to go. Harvick passed Truex in turn 3 to retake the lead with 90 laps to go. The 11th caution of the race flew with 74 laps to go after Landon Cassill slammed the wall in turn 2. Truex was forced to serve a pass-through penalty for passing Harvick on entry to pit road. He said after the race that he "did the same thing guys do every week. You get to your timing line, you step on the gas and you head straight towards your pit. So obviously I turned left and came up next to [Harvick] as I did it, as I was driving to my pit which guys do every week. I don't know why it was different today. I would think that if they didn't want us to do that any more they'd tell us in the driver meeting. But hell, it's every week. I've been passed on pit road 15 times this year the same exact way. I didn't see it get penalized. I guess when you're doing it for a win it's different circumstances or something."[30] "Everybody does it," a visibly disappointed Truex added on pit road. "I've had people pass me the same way at Bristol and Martinsville. They'll drive right by you through the pit. Everybody does it, so I don't know why all of a sudden they're making an example out of me. It's frustrating when you don't win. I feel like I've had a lot not go the right way the last couple years, especially. It is what it is. We'll move on."[31]
The race restarted with 68 laps to go. Keselowski took the lead with 67 laps to go. In the final 10 laps, a number of cars began pitting so to have enough fuel to make the finish. Kenseth briefly took the lead from Keselowski before he pitted with four laps to go and handed the lead back to Keselowski. Keselowski decreased his speed dramatically to conserve fuel. This allowed Carl Edwards to pull to within a car-length with one lap remaining. He blocked Edwards's advance as he re-fired his engine and drove on to score the victory.[32]
Keselowski said in victory lane that he felt "terrible that I couldn't do a burnout for the fans. I didn't have enough gas," Keselowski said after going the final 71 laps on fuel. Yeah, this is our best stretch and I'm really, really proud of that. We've got to keep it going through the fall, that's really important, but this is great. I'm just so proud of my guys. I feel terrible for the fans because I didn't get to do a burnout. I didn't have any gas. The car wouldn't run, but we're back here in Victory Lane and what a great Saturday night."[33]
After a runner-up finish, Edwards said he "thought I had him, too. He played it perfectly and he did it – he won at the absolute slowest possible speed he could. I thought he was out of fuel and that was that. I just appreciate the crowd coming out here, it's always neat to come to Kentucky. It's the site of my first win 13 years ago and it's a special place…That's a tough one to be that close. We were getting such good fuel mileage with our TRD (Toyota Racing Development) engine, I think we might have had a little extra there. That's going to be the hard part, going to bed knowing you could have gone a little faster."[34] He added that he thought Keselowski "was out of fuel, and he wasn't. He played it perfectly. He let me get to him and then stood on it. We had a shot at it, we just weren't able to do it. Saved a little too much."[35]
| Pos | Grid | No. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Laps | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 267 | 44 |
| 2 | 5 | 19 | Carl Edwards | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 267 | 39 |
| 3 | 14 | 31 | Ryan Newman | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 267 | 38 |
| 4 | 3 | 41 | Kurt Busch | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 267 | 38 |
| 5 | 22 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 267 | 36 |
| 6 | 23 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 267 | 35 |
| 7 | 16 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 267 | 34 |
| 8 | 11 | 20 | Matt Kenseth | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 267 | 34 |
| 9 | 1 | 4 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 267 | 34 |
| 10 | 7 | 78 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row Racing | Toyota | 267 | 32 |
| 11 | 17 | 6 | Trevor Bayne | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 267 | 30 |
| 12 | 6 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 267 | 29 |
| 13 | 13 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 267 | 28 |
| 14 | 18 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 267 | 27 |
| 15 | 10 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 267 | 26 |
| 16 | 12 | 3 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 267 | 26 |
| 17 | 27 | 10 | Danica Patrick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 266 | 25 |
| 18 | 24 | 27 | Paul Menard | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 266 | 23 |
| 19 | 20 | 42 | Kyle Larson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 266 | 22 |
| 20 | 26 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 266 | 21 |
| 21 | 36 | 98 | Cole Whitt | Premium Motorsports | Chevrolet | 266 | 20 |
| 22 | 31 | 23 | David Ragan | BK Racing | Toyota | 265 | 20 |
| 23 | 25 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet | 265 | 18 |
| 24 | 40 | 30 | Josh Wise | The Motorsports Group | Chevrolet | 264 | 17 |
| 25 | 30 | 95 | Ty Dillon (i) | Circle Sport – Leavine Family Racing | Chevrolet | 264 | 0 |
| 26 | 37 | 46 | Michael Annett | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet | 264 | 15 |
| 27 | 39 | 55 | Reed Sorenson | Premium Motorsports | Chevrolet | 262 | 14 |
| 28 | 38 | 32 | Jeffrey Earnhardt (R) | Go FAS Racing | Ford | 262 | 13 |
| 29 | 29 | 38 | Landon Cassill | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 261 | 12 |
| 30 | 28 | 13 | Casey Mears | Germain Racing | Chevrolet | 246 | 11 |
| 31 | 8 | 24 | Chase Elliott (R) | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 210 | 10 |
| 32 | 9 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 208 | 9 |
| 33 | 32 | 44 | Brian Scott (R) | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 151 | 8 |
| 34 | 33 | 7 | Regan Smith | Tommy Baldwin Racing | Chevrolet | 150 | 7 |
| 35 | 15 | 21 | Ryan Blaney (R) | Wood Brothers Racing | Ford | 143 | 6 |
| 36 | 19 | 47 | A. J. Allmendinger | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 103 | 5 |
| 37 | 34 | 34 | Chris Buescher (R) | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 92 | 4 |
| 38 | 35 | 83 | Matt DiBenedetto | BK Racing | Toyota | 79 | 3 |
| 39 | 4 | 22 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 52 | 2 |
| 40 | 21 | 17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 9 | 1 |
| Official race results | |||||||
NBC Sports covered the race on the television side. Rick Allen, Jeff Burton and Steve Letarte had the call in the booth for the race. Dave Burns, Mike Massaro, Marty Snider and Kelli Stavast reported from pit lane during the race.
| NBCSN | |
|---|---|
| Booth announcers | Pit reporters |
| Lap-by-lap: Rick Allen Color-commentator: Jeff Burton Color-commentator: Steve Letarte | Dave Burns Mike Massaro Marty Snider Kelli Stavast |
PRN had the radio call for the race, which was simulcast on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.
| PRN | ||
|---|---|---|
| Booth announcers | Turn announcers | Pit reporters |
| Lead announcer: Doug Rice Announcer: Mark Garrow Announcer: Wendy Venturini | Turns 1 & 2: Rob Albright Turns 3 & 4: Pat Patterson | Brad Gillie Brett McMillan Jim Noble Steve Richards |
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